Travis & Stephanie Evans Family: February

Trying to come up with interesting treat ideas for Family Home Evening. Pop Tarts. Something I'd never normally buy haha.

I met Tanner's class at their zoo field trip. Better to not sign up as a chaperone then I'm not in charge of other kids.. I just get to hang with my kid! Can you see a trend with these silly boys and their poses?!

Travis had a free night with his Marriot Points so we decided to do a one night staycation in Scottsdale for Valentine's day. Only we did it on Feb.2 because that was when it worked for our schedules. The bummer was that when he tried to angle into the narrow entry for the parking lot, he was focused on the key slot on his side and didn't realize there were short, cement poles on the passenger side. I noticed but spoke up too late. He scraped the side of his truck along the bright yellow pole and it crunched up the passenger side door pretty bad. It made such a terrible sound that the valet guy came running. What I'll always remember from this though, was how calm Travis was about all of it. Essentially shrugged his shoulders and said "It's just a truck". He doesn't have a temper anyway, but this felt like a reason to be at least a little upset. I imagine most guys would have had a much stronger reaction and maybe some choice words. Me included. But he acted like it was no big deal and certainly not a reason to ruin the night. I'm really grateful for him.

We had a fancy steak dinner at Dominiques, got a couples massage, hit up Handels for dessert where they do it right in Scottsdale with ginormous scoops! The streaming options weren't working on the TV, but the regular cable had Groundhogs Day on and that was funny to watch! Phil?! Phil Conner?! It's Ned! Ned Ryerson!!

We woke up and did a hike then got breakfast at the yummiest place! I can't believe I'd never heard of it before... Sugar Jam! This place was a vibe. They had a DJ going and it was 9am. I felt a bit out of place as a clear minority but man that food was good!! Then we went back to the hotel to soak in the hot tub before we had to check out. We were debating what to do next when we got word that Reddin had wrecked really badly on his mountain bike and broken both wrists, probably needing surgery. I offered to pick up Olivia so she could play with Olive while they were at the hospital. So that was that! Life calls. It was a lovely 18 hour getaway with my boyfriend!

On the way into town, we stopped at Home Depot to look at ceiling fans. Very romantical. But actually, it was, because I was with him!

Olive's face when she opened the door and saw Livy was priceless. I love these two.

Aubrey was with Tanner at Kids for Kindness and got home right after us. We're so grateful she's willing to do these over nights for us!

I've wanted to put some wallpaper up in my laundry room for YEARS. Sad how long it takes me to do simple home projects. Selecting the print was the hardest part for sure. I wish I had gone with the other flower print I was debating between, but oh well. It looks fine. It's better than what it was!

Some of the kids went with me to visit Grandma and she had lots of citrus to pick! Our primary presidency had just been changed that day so we went home and got to juicing! Perfect thank you gifts to walk around and deliver!

Tanner was a good worker getting all the Christmas cards down. I probably leave them up too long but they make me happy.

Mr. Weston's birthday!!

He turned 13. A TEENAGER.

How did he go from this sweet, angel baby to a teenager?

I'm behind on blogging so I'm writing this in November, which I hate because everything I think of to write is more current. His favorite thing on earth is his electric bike. He loves to go out riding with his friends and is always working on it, tweaking little things about it like the seat cover or handle bars.

He HATES lettuce wraps and those are his veto dinner.

He has never cared much about clothes but his friends are rubbing off on him and now he likes to shop at Goodwill.

He's still an animal lover and not afraid of bugs.

He has a curious mind and likes science and learning how things work.

He's kind and thoughtful of others, but not so much of Tanner or Olive. I guess that's how it goes with younger siblings.

The Packers are still his team.

He likes gardening and shows interest in trees and plants. Like as in, always trying to eat whatever random berries or things are growing on parking lot trees haha!

His best friends are Mason Payne, Graham Law and Rusty.

He isn't much into snuggling anymore (I'm so sad!) but Winnie gets lots of hugs and kisses.

He is the Deacon's Quorum President.

He loves to cook and bake and is taking an elective in school where he gets to cook.

He is still pretty low maintenance.

This might be the last month he smiled normally for pictures. I can't get that kid to just smile for a picture!

I love him so much and am so grateful I am lucky enough to be his mom!

He gets a party this year so gifts from us were on the less expensive side. I saw this strawberry plant at Home Depot and immediately thought he'd love it. His initial reaction was not too enthused. He admitted later he thought it was a lame gift, but leave it to me to know best! He watered and watched and picked strawberries for months and loved that plant!

I picked him up from school for a birthday lunch and he chose Ned's Crazy Sub. I'm glad we went because that location ended up closing a few months later. Sadness!! It's a Mesa icon!

Always fun to pick out Dad on the wall of baseball teams.

Evan was so nice to us. When he realized it was Weston's birthday he brought him a big, sugar cookie and a t-shirt. Travis came a little late but still made it to have lunch with us!

He chose smoked brisket, homemade mac and cheese and Caesar salad for his birthday dinner!

For his party, he invited his besties to go play airsoft and get Caines. Dad took them.

Joy D. Jones spoke in my mom's stake and she invited us because she sang in the choir. I loved it! The only thing I remember now is her story about stressing over the way her husband folded the towels when he had come in to be with her while she was working on a talk. He just looked at her and said, "Really?" Haha. I just love hearing about seemingly perfect people being normal people.

I had a lot of leftover candy canes from Christmas because we were going to "heart attack" some cars but never found the time. Well, wa-la! Just do it at Valentine's! A sweet way to spread some love!

This is what it means to have teenagers. They walk in the door with mannequin legs and say they're going to light them on fire, throw them off a roof and videotape it all for a school project. As if!

I included this quote because I taught the Relief Society lesson on the prophet's conference talk and there were parts that I knew could feel offensive or hard for the women. I crowdsourced some opinions on this and the lesson ended up going really well. I love the women in our ward.

Grandpa randomly dropped off some raspberry cinnamon rolls from Rise Up bakery on a Saturday. A delicious surprise! He always drops and runs though. I didn't even get to see him!

Time to switch out the bathroom conference quotes. Loved this one.

Tanner and Landon got to come on our date to Wild Ginger since they were the only ones at home. They asked to try our pad thai and I totally forgot about Landon's peanut allergy! Ack! I panicked and took him to Marcie but she said he didn't have any reactions. Blessings.

I found matching pink skirts at Marshalls and couldn't resist. I took Olive's in quite a bit of course.

We were doing a little photo shoot and someone felt left out.

Quin and Joy's son, Tean, gave his farewell talk. I had meetings, but the rest of the family went and I met them at the luncheon. He's a truly stellar kid.

Superbowl game at Grandmas. There was a hullabaloo because the Chiefs player, Travis Kelce is dating Taylor Swift. The halftime show was Usher. That's all I cared about!

Tanner made his own Valentine's box all by himself! He was so proud! Lots of hot glue.

So did Olive! The super heros are dancing on the dance floor!

I made Weston a heart shaped sandwich for lunch.

I did homemade, heart shaped pizzas for our special, candle light dinner.

We haven't had a Udall family party in ages and Lisa Hogle brought it up at one of our conference nights. She had run into to my dad at the temple and told him her idea to throw one and he offered his office, thinking it would just be for us grandkids. Lisa has really been going through a rough time with Evan's health and didn't have the bandwidth to execute her idea so Marcie and I tried to help. I don't need to include all the details but it blew up so bad. All because of miscommunication and bad feelings amongst the aunts and uncles. So much time spent planning and figuring this all out. Time I didn't have. But it finally happened! I bought all these little vases and decorated the tables and made sure the backyard looked good! We hired a Mexican restaurant to come out and do tacos and the food was super yummy! Marcie, Shelley and my mom made desserts and Trellany came up with a trivia game about the family. It was all so fun! I really enjoyed it and was so glad it all worked out. I love my Udall family and just about everyone came who lives in town. We were just sad Grandma couldn't come.

I even put fresh flowers in the bathroom! I went all out, haha!

A remake of Mean Girls came out and Shelley and I couldn't resist! We tried to get sushi beforehand but they were running behind so we had to pack it up and smuggle it into the theater. When the worker came in to scope out the theater after it started, I tried to hide the sushi and soy sauce spilled all down my crotch! Haha! If you've never felt cold soy sauce slide down your garments, you haven't lived.

Only one kid left that wanted to go on a family bike ride to get acai bowls. I love our neighborhood and how many places are close enough to ride to!

Family Lip Sync Battle 2024!

Travis, Collin and I did the SNL Skit with Jimmy Fallon and John Cena, "EW". Collin made a great step-dad, Gary haha.

Everyone's skits were SO GOOD!!!!

I guess Nora was supposed to be the Little Mermaid but she wouldn't put on the costume so Cohen came in clutch. David with the crab hands was a hoot!

Marcie and Austin's family always kills it!! They had that Beetlejuice number down pat! I loved it so much! The outfits, the ice hands that grabbed their faces, the dancing! So good!

I didn't get a picture of Shelley and Casey but they were Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce singing a Taylor Swift song.

Shelley organized the little girls into a dance number from Kidsongs! A classic! It was the navy ship song. They wore tap shoes and did it just like the video we grew up watching. It was so cute!! "So be my guest, you got nothin to lose! Won't you let me take you on. a. Sea. Cruise!"

When my parents came out as The Lunch Lady skit, we all LOST IT. Oh. my. gosh. Did my dad SELL it! He was all in. Big arm motions! Dancing around my mom! Especially at the end when they face each other and yell, "sloppy joe. sloppy sloppy joe!" The laughing was so loud!! It was epic. EPIC. My mom has always been in for being silly and funny but not my dad. He has come a long way! I think we have my mom to thank for not giving up on him!

Then the teenage boys went last, reenacting funny dance moves to do at a wedding. They got the idea from Instagram and I helped them narrow down the moves and get it organized. The pinched faces and tiny ties were so funny. Everyone was rolling! It was so funny!

I love this night so much!! I know its a lot of work but it always comes together so good and we laugh all night. Worth it!

We made homemade funnel cakes for dessert which are always a hit! I have the best family!

I love getting pictures from primary singing time!

Holiday decorations are a pain to set out and store but so fun to have the house festive.

Always fun when Landon gets to spend the night!

I got the kids out of school to welcome home Ruthie from her mission to Canada! Her homecoming talk was really good. Very genuine. You could tell she truly worked hard and gave her mission her all.

I ran out of hygiene/food kits for homeless people that I keep in my car so we put together more for FHE and I had the kids make cards to go inside each one. I thought they were so sweet.

I finally got certified to substitute teach!! I've been wanting to do this for years. It was a way bigger hassle than I expected. But I was able to renew my teaching certificate for another 10 years in the process so that was a win. I think they are desperate for teachers. Usually you have to take continuing education classes but I didn't have any and they still renewed it.

Camilla's dog, Pippy, had to be put down. She was old and sick and it broke Camilla's heart. She didn't tell me until the day before so I ran down to meet her and her sister at brunch to say goodbye. I wouldn't do this for anyone else's dog but I've known Pippy for 8 years and she was Camilla's first "baby". I really did it for Camilla.

Just a snapshot of Collin's dresser. He might care in 20 years. ;)

The Lindbloms had their "Christmas" family party in February at my Aunt Marcia and Uncle Dea's house. When we pulled up I felt like I had driven into a time capsule. Isn't it the perfect, little cottage? So many memories here. I love this house and all the time I've spent in it. I was so lucky to get to sneak into the Montague's life, almost like a fly on the wall, all those years. I remember waking up to read scriptures around the fireplace. Driving around in her suburban while she checked her day planner and got money out of the plastic pouch inside. I remember wiping down windows with newspaper on Saturday mornings when chores were being done and the kids fighting and saying naughty words like faggot and pissed off. They would write death threats on their food in the fridge so no one else would eat it. I had my first crepe in their kitchen. Kate fed me crepes until they were gone because I didn't know how to tell her I was full. They had a cupboard full of canned soup we'd dump into bowls and microwave for lunch. I remember being toted along for orthodontist appointments, birthday parties, volleyball practice and a piano field trip... yep field trip. We watched movies in the basement we shouldn't have watched, like Gremlins and Pelican Brief. I also remember watching Days of our Lives in their parent's room when one of the characters got buried alive. I was there when Molly got picked up by her date for prom and they took pictures in front of the fireplace. I watched Lindsey fall to the ground and sob over her dog, Sadie, that had been hit by a car. We got water out of the cool drinking fountain on the back porch. I remember the table spread of food for Kate's mission homecoming or farewell. Kate was always the nicest to me. Once, we were playing around and David lifted me up and I struggled to get free and fell with my hands down first on the edge of carpet that meets the wood in the kitchen and a nail that was sticking up cut my skin pretty bad. I got carried over to Uncle Dea in his room to have it inspected. I still have the scar. I remember Lindsey talking about her first kiss and how to shave your legs. They had Irish spring soap in the shower which I didn't like because we were used to Dove and Irish Spring doesn't wash away smooth like Dove does. Most of the girls shared a room with bunk beds and a long vanity covered in makeup and curling irons with big bulb lights around the mirrors. It was so cool. Aunt Marcia always had scriptures or inspirational quotes written on small pieces of paper taped to kitchen cabinets. They had an ironing board that folded into the wall next to the kitchen and a picture next to it that said, "If Mama Ain't Happy, Ain't Nobody Happy". We had countless family parties in the backyard. David asked if I'd go on a date with his friend, one Valentine's Day and we had dinner all set up on pretty table in the grass in the backyard. I was so uncomfortable. The laundry room was between the back door and kitchen and the kids all had baskets of folded clothes, organized in cubbies that I thought was nice... because I loved anything that was organized. The big, paper calendar hung on that laundry room door, just like my moms. They had a den tucked down a hallways that was very official, with walls covered in bookshelves and an actual, wooden podium in the center. I have no idea why, but Uncle Dea was a lawyer so it seemed to make sense. I remember swimming at Carson pool in the summer and Aunt Marcia dropping us off at the theater to see The Sandlot when it first opened. We were eating dinner one night when a big fight broke out over who got to drive the car that night. It was Molly and someone else arguing and I don't remember who won but there was lots of shouting. They had matching, green fabric sofas that faced each other next to the fireplace. We'd squish them together to make a bed and sleep 3 across. We were allowed to go to a high school football game once with Jill and the second we got back, Aunt Marcia cornered Lindsey, Shelley and I on the back porch, asking questions about Jill's driving and behavior. I was given stern side-eye looks from Lindsey that said "Shut it." I always obeyed Lindsey or else I would have sung like a jailbird and told Aunt Marcia everything. Jill was wild that night. When I was really little, I was terrified of Tyler. I would hug my mom's legs and refuse to let go. One time, she kept shooing us away, so Shelley and I ran into the suburban and locked the doors as he came out to walk around and shake the car and torment us to be funny. They all thought it was hysterical. Shelley and I were truly petrified. That house was always bustling with activity, noise and kids. It was chaos, but it was fascinating to me. Especially to watch the older kids' lives. I couldn't wait to be "grown up" like them. With the Tyler exception, I always felt safe, accepted and loved. It was fun there and a welcome break from my own house. Aunt Marcia had her hands FULL, but the fact that she welcomed us anyway, changed and shaped my childhood. I have always admired how calm and patient she is and hoped to be like her someday. Her soothing voice and testimony are what I think of when I think of her. Oh, and her wonderfully, fluffy, brown hair that frames her face. I am so grateful I got to taste Montague life growing up!

They got Boca for dinner and played a trivia game testing our knowledge of the family. That's tricky when we aren't super familiar with Aunt Judy or Karen's families.

We took a little tour of the remodeled "grandma house" on the side and visited on the back porch for a while.

They would like to sell their home so I had to take some pictures in case I don't get to come back. I can't describe how peaceful and cozy I feel here. I will be so sad when it's not their home anymore.

The three siblings that have stuck together. I loved seeing them laugh.

Bring on dance competition season! Olive has a tap duet with Lila Harris that they are so cute in! Angel Eyes.

Posey was at this comp so it was fun to hang with Camilla for a bit!

I love subbing in Tanner's primary class.

This poor child and his allergies!! He had welts around his eye. I hope these allergy shots end up working. The farther into it we get, the more concentrated the serum and their arms swell up afterward.

Collin's friend kicked him in the mouth and he had to get stitches. He said it was an accident. That the kid was trying to kick a water bottle off his head. You never know what you can believe.

Just trying to make dinner while medical procedures are going down in my kitchen. Hooray for Dr. Dad!

Elder Anderson came to speak at ASU in Gammage auditorium with ASU's president, Dr. Crow. Rachelle Lindblom got us tickets so we were waiting in the foyer for her to come meet us with the tickets. We had been waiting a little while and there was no one else around, when suddenly, in walked Elder Anderson with a small entourage of people!!! I tried to stay calm while frantically poking Collin and whispering for him to look over, all while keeping my eyes on Elder Anderson. He immediately noticed me noticing him, haha. And made a beeline straight for us! We hopped up as he stuck out his hand to shake ours and welcome us and ask our names. He thanked us for coming and was so kind and genuine. After he walked away we fan girled a little bit that we'd never wash our hands again! So cool! Well, it was maybe 5 minutes later that a man walked in who I could tell was important but I didn't know his name. He wandered to a couple doors seeming like he was looking for something, then noticed us and walked over. We shook hands and I said, "I can tell you are important." He laughed and said he wasn't. His name was Evan A. Schmutz and he is a general authority 70. We introduced ourselves and he said he has a son named Collin too! He was so so nice. After he left we looked at each other like, wow! We hit the jackpot! The event itself was really good. I noticed how whenever the presenters asked Elder Anderson a question, he first turned to his wife and asked her what she thought. That made an impression on me. I was really hopeful that Collin might think more positively about college after hearing all the wonderful opportunities at ASU! Afterward we found a local, popular restaurant and got dinner. It was a really nice night together. I love my Collin!